American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

membership organization with the mission of conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

. Its focus is on threats to birds in the Western Hemisphere – threats which include overuse of pesticides,

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, and

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species adv ...

. ABC is the second

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

partner in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and works in cooperation with other groups and agencies, including The Bird Conservation Alliance,

Partners in Flight Partners in Flight / Compañeros en Vuelo / Partenaires d’Envol is an organization launched in 1990 in response to growing concerns about declines in the populations of many land bird species, and to emphasize the conservation of birds not covered ...

, and the North American Bird Conservation Initiative. Overall, ABC’s network spans 15 countries and protects over a million acres – benefiting birds large and small. Their partner projects have included publication of bird guides, education on the location and construction of

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s, educating farmers to promote bird-friendly agriculture, and

raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on v ...

conservation. Their Conservation Counterparts Program helps other organizations fundraise for

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

and

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

conservation projects. One of ABC's key strategies involves working with conservation partners to establish and sustain protected reserves across the Americas, including safe havens for Araripe Manakin ''Antilophia bokermanni'' in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(with partner Aquasis), and Blue-billed Curassow ''Crax alberti'' in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

(alongside Fundación ProAves).

Programs and projects

Latin America

American Bird Conservancy works with partner groups such as Fundación ProAves to purchase land that protects endangered bird habitat. They are also working with partner organizations to reduce the conversion of coffee farms that offer habitat to the

cerulean warbler The cerulean warbler (''Setophaga cerulea'') is a small songbird in the family Parulidae. It is a long-distance migrant, breeding in eastern North American hardwood forests. In the non-breeding season, it winters on the eastern slope of the And ...

, by helping growers market premium beans as cerulean warbler-friendly. In Colombia they have helped to protect wintering bird habitat by partnering with Fundación ProAves to help create the first preserve dedicated to a single U.S. migrant, the

Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve, known in Spanish as Reserva Natural de las Aves Reinita Cielo Azul, is a nature reserve near Bucaramanga in central Colombia. The reserve is set among oak forest on the eastern slopes of the Magdalena River. It ...

. Also in Colombia, they helped fund an expedition in 2010 that discovered two nesting colonies of the endangered

Baudó oropendola The Baudó oropendola (''Psarocolius cassini'') is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It is endemic to Colombia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, which are threatened by destruction. As it is only ...

, one of the rarest birds in the world with less than a dozen known birds before the discovery.

United States

Several organizations, including the American Bird Conservancy and the

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

, were commissioned by the U. S. Federal Government to study the US State of Birds in 2007. They found that 800 species of birds in the U.S. were "endangered, threatened or in significant decline", with more birds threatened in the state of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

than any other region. The study found that 39% of ocean birds were declining in population. They also learned that conservation efforts are very effective at helping bird populations to recover, with positive increases in some wetland bird species due to

wetland conservation Wetland conservation is aimed at protecting and preserving areas where water exists at or near the Earth's surface, such as swamps, marshes and bogs. Wetlands cover at least six per cent of the Earth and have become a focal issue for conservation ...

. In the U.S., they are trying to stop mountaintop mining in the

Appalachia Appalachia () is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, C ...

s in order to protect vital breeding habitat. In 1996, after American Bird Conservancy threatened to sue the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

over the

San Clemente loggerhead shrike The San Clemente loggerhead shrike (''Lanius ludovicianus mearnsi'') or San Clemente Island loggerhead shrike is a subspecies of the loggerhead shrike that is endemic to San Clemente Island, California. Description The San Clemente loggerhead sh ...

(''Lanius ludovicicanus mearnsi'') whose habitat was formerly used by the Navy for bombardment training, the Navy agreed to take steps to protect the species and its

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. ''Cats Indoors'' is a public education campaign by American Bird Conservancy to encourage control of

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s in order to protect

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s from predation by cats. The objective of the Conservancy's campaign is that all domestic cats should be contained or leashed when outdoors or kept indoors. ABC supports renewable energy as vital in the fight agains
climate change
and promote
siting of wind facilities
to minimize impacts on birds.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Environmental organizations based in Virginia Nature conservation organizations based in the United States Ornithological organizations in the United States Organizations established in 1994 Bird conservation organizations